Medan Kota

I went on a Parenting Session yesterday, conducted by Dr Ernst Wong.. The topic was “How to Listen to your Children & Get Cooperation From your Children”

We also do Personality Test to see which number we are … it was fun.. my girlfriend and me.. we were laughing throughout the whole test and I have to agree with Dr Wong that by understanding which personality type my 2 boys will be… I will then know how to deal with them.. in a much more understanding manners…

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this is what I recommend for Jetstar Asia magazine for Dec/Jan 2009 issue

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It has been many many years since we last applied for a credit card… we hold the HSBC and Citibank.. and is given to us since we have accounts with them… the application for the cards were applied on behalf for us by relationship manager or the RM which is safe and sound…

anyway, about 3 weeks back… we had lunch at Taipan… as we were leaving the restaurant, we were approached by the Mega credit card people… 2 youngsters who definitely have no appeal as a banker at all… came to us… saying “ko.. cie.. free first year and now with Mega cc, it’s 50% off at Taipan”… hubby looked at me… father-in-law turned and said “50% off leh…“… so I said to the salesperson and asked..” how do I cancel it should I want to discontinue the service after the 1st year”.. (after that BCA incident… it’s gonna be my first opening question to all these people..)… anyway… I am not that keen…and I didn’t want to manage another account… but the in-laws and hubby went ahead…

First they asked to fill in the standard information on the form that has the usual empty dotted line for address, billing address, income etc… next, copy of the personal identity card.. which obviously we don’t carry the copied version… so they ended taking out their handphone and capture the ID… Third, asking for a copy of the credit card that we already hold… and again, since none copying machine insight, again both guys used their mobil phone to capture the front and the back of our credit card…

I was sitting nearby and seeing how the whole thing being process…. something striked me that could these people be a fraud?… darn.. they took all our details!! …including our credit card details for both front and back!!… as an online person… what we gave them is more than enough for them to go online and have a big shopping extravagenza!!!..

I seriously didn’t feel right about the whole thing… so I turned to Hubby… explained my whole concerned .. and asked them both if they are those freelance credit card salesman employed by the Bank? or the full time employee…. well.. they replied ‘No’… which was not a relieved to be honest…. whether they are one or the other… they definitely have more than what is needed to be known….

somehow… hubby went ahead with the application… he just received a call about further verification… and frankly… this will be our last … the more I think of it, the more I feel unsecured !!!… well.. do take precautions… Medan does has scammers… actually in all places around the world… but it’s the way they do things here that make it worst… and the law does not protect the credit card holders like how it used to be…. so watch out…

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being back home to bangkok is the only time that I total let go of all the stressful stuff in life….

as such, we have all gain weights, we kind of…. eat,sleep,massage, play…   and I have since turned into a medical nerd like the local Medan…    hubby gone full health check up and seem having problem with his heart …. seeing a cardiologist on wednesday, as well as dental checkup which he refused to see one for as long as I can remember …. after which … he walked off the room giving us all …. the biggest smile…..  , the boys!!  Jadon saw dentist in Medan before came back to BKK, and somehow he did not detect that Jadon has a crack on his back tooth …  ended both boys have their teeth fixed and totally clean out ….  the problem with my family is that… we never have the time to see doctors when we are in Medan… it’s always, ….. timing is not right, …..out of town or ….that the doctor is not available…

the new building

Lounge offering complimentary breakfast for healthcheck patients…. including the familiy members…

the hospital, Bumrungrad Hospital, is one of the best all round in Thailand…  more than 50% of the patients are foreigner and very popular with the Arabian…  I know the International Marketing Director (IMD) as I was supposed to be their representative in Medan, but due to time limitation, I could not take up the offer… anyway…  IMD is a Singaporean who used to work for the Parkway group i.e Mount Elisabeth and Gleneagles hospitals…. the 2 most popular with Indonesians….  what I was gonna write is not some made up stories but ones that she told us and I have personally experienced so myself….

IMD told me that Singapore doctors often OVER treat their foreign patients…  and that many times, the diagnose that the doctors gave to the patients are many times not the best for them… e.g, a cancer patient, there are many ways of treatment, but many times these doctors ….. will choose the treatment that they know of the doctors that they have good relationship with….  service level?… I don’t think I have to say… many of us would have experienced it all I supposed…

as for my own experienced, it was on the same day as 911 … and it was the first time for me in a Singapore hospital …  we were in the country for a business trip, and I suddenly came down with urinary tract infections… it was so bad that I could not walk … so we went straight to emergency room at Mount E…  I was put on bed rest from 5am to about 9.30 am …. while I wait for the specialist to arrive….  and somehow… cant exactly remember well..  my husband went to ask for a pushchair to push me up to the medical centre, he sort of politely asked for one and asked if he will be pushing himself or that there will be a nurse to do it… the whoever he was replied to him that “lending you one is good enough!!!”..  that was the first %$@*&……  next, when we saw the doctor… we were young.. about 27… the first question that he asked was… “where we are from, what is my husband occupation!”…..  my hubby was a bit pissed by then…  next, he diagnosed me, and listed a list of tests including CT SCAN !!!!!…  darn…  I knew all along that I was not well, but I was quite positive that I do not need to go through CT SCAN… ended I pay S$1200 for a simple diagnose for a mulfuction to one of my organ….. and obviously, the CT scan prove nothing wrong with my other parts….

and that was about the last time that we ever walked into one…. and it had been a long while since my in laws stopped going over to Singapore for treatments as well….  the only one doctor that my father in law still see is his cardiologist and he was reluctant to see the one in Bangkok… but last December, he needed a sinus operation and needed a cardiologist to make sure that he is up for the operation….  hahah.. ended… he sort of fell in love with the doctor and havent been back to the cardiologist in Singapore….  and it’s the same thing… OVER treat him… asking him to see him every 1/2 year while the Thai doctor said that he is doing fine and check up every 2 years is good enough…..

and when we found out that my father in law has Parkinson Disease, he sort of saw like 3 doctors in Mount E, all of them said that there is nothing that they could do, except gave him medication…. I didnt feel right and managed to find this amazing neurologist whom pointed out to us that Parkinson disease cannot be cured but is treatable.… and true to his words, my FIL is doing well….  its not cured but he is doing better….

pricing… it is a little slightly lower compared to Singapore… but it’s the service and the politeness of the doctor that my in law feel comfortable about the place…. although I have to warn that… you may still face with the same silly doctors in Thailand… but the hospital provide a rather detailed information of each doctor individual background before you choose to see one….. @ www.bumrungrad.com

for Medanese to get treatment in Bangkok is not easy…. cant argue with that…

and here’s Jadon being turned into some Japanese cartoon character by his cousin …….   my nieces love the Cosplay… some Japanese cartoon …..

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What I am about to write will make many of you very envious of me…. heheheh…  BUT, what you are about to read is also a non bias report of how I feel for the place….  however, if you want to read the full formal report, you may read it at MedanKu.com

so, I was given a complimentary experience at the Quan Spa @ JW Marriott Hotel Medan… actually, not just me, its me and hubby and we were treated to enjoy the ‘Embrace Escape’ Spa package as part of the Media …..  pretty cool isn’t it…

Spa, its one area that I sort of know it relatively well enough…  I do try out at the different spas whenever I travel abroad.  But let just say we stick to the Medan standard…  the Embrace Escape, is a package that is tailored for the couple that supposed to let the couple taking the time out to reconnect with each other… for like 2 hrs 45 mins…

we began with Ms Ary, the spa director, giving us the tour of the place… it’s nice, cool, new and very very very and very spotless clean… we were then explained of what we were to be expected which, is full body scrub, then romance bath and followed by massage…

we were given the couple room, which is BIG enough for 4 of us (us + 2 masseurs) to move around and not one of the typical tight space that can be found in other places…  my favourite will have to be the fact that, there are plenty of towels for me to pick, clean, wipe and changed for the whole 3 hours without having to ask for it… I am a weirdo, I like my towel to be DRY each time I pick up a new piece.. and it got to be fluffy and big and in WHITE colour….  and it’s exactly just that at Quan…

oh, and our masseurs, Ms Candra and Ms Juniash… when we were introduced to them… my hubby and me were whispering to each other.. “oh god, they have given us two very small girls” they are small in frame and with us being big size person and having love our massage to be hard press.. we were a little worried…  but what a surprised… they must have some chinese martial art training or something…

we began with the full body scrub… which was nice and pleasant… I fell asleep obviously, after about 45 mins of having someone to rub off the dead cell on the skin.. you can truly feel being totally cleansed… we were then left alone to immersed in the bath for 30 mins… with nice warm tea placed on the side for us to enjoy… what a heaven..

we then followed on with about 60 mins of massage…  I am not bragging on this… but with me having back problem, and to cure that, a good therapist will need to understand the nodes around the back and sort of like detect the area without the guest having to say, mention or pointed out…  for the past years that I have massages in Indonesia, none and I mean NONE have I experienced one that can do that… most of the time, its rub and stroke and more of the relaxing kind of massage… to cure my back problem, it’s always been the Thai massage only …..  lets just say… with just 60 mins on that massage bed, I felt renewed and recovered…  my usual massage session involved 2 hours with 2 masseurs working together at Eucalyptus Spa and they can’t even compared to this smily Ms Candra….

as for the pricing, Rp 1.850.000++ per couple… well.. I am imagining many of you are shouting ‘gila‘ this moment… hahahah…  BUT.. for the sack of fairness… do be reminded that

1.  its QUAN Spa

2. its at JW Marriott Hotel

3. its on the 17th floor

4. its service and it’s impeccable … no reason what so ever to complain about

5. it’s way cheaper compared to other part of the world of the same standard

6. it’s for 2 – TWO.. not one…

well, do find all sort of excuses to try it out… its truly a little piece of heaven on earth…

oh! and stay tune for Prime Steakhouse, Health club, Prime Bar and Yum Cha

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